Richardson Doubletree Hotel settles wage-and-hour suit

The Doubletree Hotel in Richardson has agreed to pay 112 employees $102,592 to settle charges it violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The franchise company that owns the hotel agreed to the settlement following an investigation by the U.S. Depart­­ment of Labor’s Wage and Hour Divi­­sion.

Investigators found the hotel failed to compensate employees for work allegedly performed before or after scheduled shift periods. It also deducted wages for lunch breaks regardless of whether workers broke for lunch and paid straight time for all hours worked instead of time-and-a-half for overtime hours.

Other charges included wrongly classifying nonexempt employees as exempt, improperly rounding off time worked and failing to include bonuses in employees’ regular rates of pay when computing overtime pay.

Investigators also found that the hotel didn’t maintain FLSA-required records of employees’ wages and work hours.

Note: WHD is targeting low-wage occupations in the hospitality industry for investigations because many employers make the kinds of mistakes listed here.

To stay on the right side of wage-and-hour laws, check your practices. Are you keeping proper records, paying employees at least the minimum wage, paying overtime when appropriate and properly classifying employees as exempt or nonexempt?

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